Too old for Mountain Biking?

24

Comments

  • schweiz
    schweiz Posts: 1,644
    I ride XC with my aunt- (late 50's) and uncle-in-law (early 60's). He's retired, she works 50% and in the last few years they have been to Mongolia and Himalayas as well as riding the Swiss and Austrian Alps and in a few weeks they're off to Riva del Garda in Italy.
    VN BMC Cube SS
    http://app.strava.com/athletes/30000
  • Ransaka
    Ransaka Posts: 474
    yeehaamcgee wrote:
    Does anyone remember the news report from a few years ago about some old guy who'd rented a DH bike somewhere in the alps, they found his bike stuck a few feet off the ground in a tree, and his corpse several hundred feet down a cliff!

    Now, as sad as that is, WHAT A WAY TO GO!!!! :D

    This one?

    http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/b ... lps-22656/

    He worked at the uni opposite the one I work at.

    I aim to be in late life and on a shiny, expensive downhill rig with the skills (finally) to put it to good use.
  • Beardface
    Beardface Posts: 5,495
    I'll be one of the oldies with all the gear, and still no idea.. :lol:
    Bird Aeris
  • rob.m
    rob.m Posts: 89
    I'm 45 years old and will never give up, I've ridden roads and trails for years now and my 7 year old son has just started riding with me as well!! My only targets are to get better as I get older :lol:
    It's never too late to become what you might have been...........
  • rhext
    rhext Posts: 1,639
    ...and don't forget, there's mountain-biking and mountain-biking. I'm already too old to be flinging myself off cliffs or heading full pelt down a world-cup downhill track. But if I'm fit enough to cycle on the road, I'm fit enough to cycle XC, and I hope I've got a good few years of both left to look forward to.
  • mac_man
    mac_man Posts: 918
    Glad to see so many 'old feckers' on here by the looks of it. Unless this IS the old farts forum and all the young uns are hanging out elsewhere :lol:

    I'm 47 and having the time of my life biking. Only rediscovered it 2 years ago and trying to make up for lost time.

    Fortunately I'm lucky to live in some of the best riding in the UK. With Calderdale on the doorstep and only and hour or 2 to the Lakes, Gisburn Wales, Dalby etc.

    Brill.

    How old is the OP by the way? And if you're falling off too often for your liking... try a skills day. You won't regret it. And you'll get far more out of your riding.
    Cool, retro and sometimes downright rude MTB and cycling themed T shirts. Just MTFU.

    By day: http://www.mtfu.co.uk
  • Ransaka
    Ransaka Posts: 474
    Looking at the current poll results kinda suggests we're all enjoying our mid-life crisis :lol:
  • miss notax
    miss notax Posts: 2,572
    Stav wrote:
    I'll be one of the oldies with all the gear, and still no idea.. :lol:

    Yup, me too :lol::lol:

    (I'm 36 and relived to see that there are lots of others in their 30's and 40's on here!)
    Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away....

    Riding a gorgeous ano orange Turner Burner!

    Sponsor the CC2CC at http://www.justgiving.com/cc2cc
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    specialeyes wrote:
    nicklouse wrote:
    I will be in my Coffin.

    Carbon or alu? :lol::lol:

    Ti with Carbon Inlay.
    or Carbon with Ti detailing.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • chrischris1315
    chrischris1315 Posts: 135
    I'm 19 and not over weight.
    I am going on a group ride on wednesday (first one for me), I don't get out as much as I would like but not much time between other stuff.
    I do think that mountain biking is an older mans game due to the cost of it, I'm taking my bike in to be serviced next week and I expect it to wipe me out, now if I'm earning more money I can afford to keep a better bike and ride more because I will have a car ( to get to more trail centres) and I will have more kit.
    What do you think?

    Chris
    GT Zaskar mmmmm yummy!
  • wheezee
    wheezee Posts: 461
    The OP is 49 and shortly to be moving down one place on the Poll board.

    All of my injuries occur at slow speeds, or at a standstill (not counting the incident of the fecking rock that jumped up and blacked my big toe as I was flying down a hill yesterday). I'm more likely to be writhing in agony from getting the bike off the car than from falling off the bike. Twice now, I've tripped backwards over the bloody thing whilst wheeling it around. An SPD in the kidneys is painful at any age.
  • wheezee
    wheezee Posts: 461
    chrischris1315 wrote:
    I'm 19 and not over weight.
    I am going on a group ride on wednesday (first one for me), I don't get out as much as I would like but not much time between other stuff.
    I do think that mountain biking is an older mans game due to the cost of it, I'm taking my bike in to be serviced next week and I expect it to wipe me out, now if I'm earning more money I can afford to keep a better bike and ride more because I will have a car ( to get to more trail centres) and I will have more kit.
    What do you think?

    Chris

    Good luck with that. Or are you planning on staying single?
  • BigJimmyB
    BigJimmyB Posts: 1,302
    Robert PB on here is 60 and when I rode with him last year - he was like a whippet.

    Age is irrelevant, if you can do it, do it.

    I'm 40 BTW and don't intend to stop until it's physically impossible to throw my leg over a bike.
  • wheezee
    wheezee Posts: 461
    BigJimmyB wrote:
    - he was like a whippet.

    A racing Xylophone that craps on the pavement?
  • trailpuppet
    trailpuppet Posts: 381
    57 here
    Slow to get going these days but once everything is rotating I am fine
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    BigJimmyB wrote:
    I'm 40 BTW and don't intend to stop until it's physically impossible to throw my leg over a bike.

    that should not stop you.

    Bike-blog-downhill-four-w-001.jpg
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • paramart
    paramart Posts: 69
    i,m 49, so is one of my mates the other is 50, we regularly do 25 miles+ over the chase, mainly off piste stuff but still have a zip round the comercials, do it till you drop :D
  • tenfoot
    tenfoot Posts: 226
    Rob.M wrote:
    I'm 45 years old and will never give up, I've ridden roads and trails for years now and my 7 year old son has just started riding with me as well!! My only targets are to get better as I get older :lol:

    I've been getting my 8 year old out on his bike regularly for the last couple of years. It feels great passing down the "knowledge".

    My youngest, who is 5, has just been "de-stabilised", and she's a natural.

    So, with the amount of riding I do with friends (and mainly my brother), plus the enthusiasm my kids and wife show, I won't be stopping for a long time yet, touch wood.
  • Buckled_Rims
    Buckled_Rims Posts: 1,648
    I'm nearly 52 and on Saturday climbed 3 decent sized hills will the aid of my mountain bike. OK, I nearly killed myself coming down from Roan Fell track, but it was great to see steam from the disc brakes when I hit the water.

    Oh, and I've also very recently done a 60 mile rough MTB bridleway route and also a 50 mile mixed road/bridleway ride.

    I will continue to ride MTB and road bikes until the world runs out of inner tubes :wink:
    CAAD9
    Kona Jake the Snake
    Merlin Malt 4
  • Too old for this
    Too old for this Posts: 128
    Just look at my user name :wink::wink:

    I'm 48 this year and have been getting into MT Biking for the last 6 months, loving it wont be giving up any time soon :):)

    To top that the missus is 53 this year and she bought an old Knacker off ebay for £35, told her it wasn't going to last her long. She's just bought a new GT Outpost and has even started to come round cannock chase with me.

    Long live us oldies :lol::lol:
  • hammy7272
    hammy7272 Posts: 236
    I'm 30 and been back into mtbing for the past 18 months. I have always been fairly fit, but I feel getting back in the saddle has really put the brakes on me aging. The fittest looking old guys I see are always cyclists. I hope to be one of those guys but not for a while as it is a work in progress. :wink:
  • butcher of bakersfield
    butcher of bakersfield Posts: 1,233
    hammy7272 wrote:
    The fittest looking old guys I see are always cyclists. I hope to be one of those guys but not for a while as it is a work in progress. :wink:

    I'm 32, and a number of times I've had old roadies, well past retirement age, cruise past me on the climbs. Usually with a cheery hello as I'm spitting out phlegm..

    I guess some people would be disheartened, or even riled up by that. But I see it as something to aspire to. I'm deeply inspired by it. I hope I'm rolling about with such ease when I'm pushing 70.

    Not exactly MTBing, but this picture always sets me straight when I'm feeling old. Most teens wouldn't step up to this..
    billdorr.jpg
  • robertpb
    robertpb Posts: 1,866
    Well I'm 60 and train to go faster all the time, up or down and sometimes down on the floor. :)


    I'm definitely faster than I was when I was 35 doing this, that's because I now train and don't go at it with all guns blazing.

    Plus when I started this all the people I rode with were my age or younger now they're all 20-30 years younger than me, plus they put me on the front.

    So there are plenty of years left for all of you yet. :lol:
    Now where's that "Get Out of Crash Free Card"
  • bbug
    bbug Posts: 83
    I didn't start mountain biking until just before my 60th birthday, over 2 years ago. It all came about when I went with the guys from work, to Cannock FOD. I rented a bike and puffed and panted round. Twice. My bum was so sore I could hardly sit for a few days after. But, I managed to keep up fairly well and Eeeh-by-eck I enjoyed the day.

    Soon after, I bought a rockhopper through C-to-W and now ride as often as I can. Mostly once a week. The problem I find is that it takes time to get to the trails, so I've bought an old gronk to go around the block on. This is a ride of just over 20 miles. I do this once a week too, to try to improve my fitness for the off-road stuff. I mostly ride Llandegla, but I really prefer natural trails when I can get someone to go with me. All this cycling has done wonders for my blood pressure, so much so that my quack has stopped trying to get me on Statins. Result!

    I'm hoping to be able to keep going for a few more years untill my grandkids are old enough to come too, though I'll probably be too old by the time the youngest is riding. She's just 2.

    Sorry for going on so- it's a failing of the aged.
  • Jay dubbleU
    Jay dubbleU Posts: 3,159
    I'm 64 - wouldn't fancy trying the Fort William downhill but I'm still fit enough to have fun in the Malverns
  • allen.coulson
    allen.coulson Posts: 424
    One thing that happens when you get older is that your memory starts to weaken.

    and one thing that happens when you start to get older is that your memory starts to weaken - but not so much that people would know.
  • jason_huo
    jason_huo Posts: 1
    one is never too old to do anything, it all depends on the attitude!!!
  • myopic
    myopic Posts: 692
    I'll be moving from the 40s to 50s bracket in a little over 2 weeks. Age never bothered me (you're only ever a day older than you were yesterday) but I can't say I've been looking forward to this one! Maybe not quite as fast going up as I used to be, but as blitz was saying, you have more stamina. I can grind away for hours - probably fuelled in part by a pig-headed determination to at least keep up with everone else (all my riding mates are at least 15 years younger than me) and the calorie belt that I didn't have access to when younger :wink:

    Planning to ride as long and as fast as I can!
    You don't need eyes to see, you need vision
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    yeehaamcgee wrote:
    There's nothing aspirational about a rigid, or singlespeed.

    didn't say there was...only that the old dodgers that seem to blast past everyone are always on singlespeeds.....

    and if someone aspires to ride singlespeed...wos it gotta doo wi yoo onywiy?

    :D
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • clodhoppa74
    clodhoppa74 Posts: 331
    wheezee wrote:
    I Strength and fitness diminish over time, no matter what you do.

    i disagree, to an extent. keep using your body well and it will last a fair old time in fitness. lost count of the amount of 60+ old blokes in the dales that still do 30+ miles a day on their bikes.

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